Winter food collection for Middleton Central foodbank

To help meet demand and make sure that they have enough supplies to support families over the Christmas period Middleton Central foodbank will be holding three days of community collections in the main town centre Tesco Extra store, as well as drop-off collections in the outlying Tesco Express outlets; this is being organised as part of a national campaign between Tesco, Fareshare and the Trussell Trust.

The collection days are Thursday 29 and Friday 30 November, and Saturday 1 December and volunteers will be on hand to pass out shopping lists and to man the food collection point behind the tills.

Carl Roach, manager of Middleton Central foodbank says, “Donations from the public are the life blood of the foodbank and without these we would not be able to support people as much as we do. Every donation, whether large or small, makes a real difference, and it goes to help people right here in our home community. We work with other local community groups and agencies so we know that the food that is donated to us is going where it should be and reaching people in real need.

"We have always found the people of Middleton to be extremely generous, and since we first opened in the Foodbank in the summer of 2014 we have received over 74 tonnes of donated food, and so far given away 71 tonnes of it to nearly 8,500 people. We are especially grateful to those who choose to donate via our regular Tesco collection point through which we have collected 9.6 tonnes of food in the last year, which is 36% of all the food donations we received.”

"In the last 12 months we have seen a 35% increase in the number of people that our food parcels have fed (2,700 people), and of these over one thousand were children. Thankfully we have also seen an increase in the amount of food donations being made to the foodbank, but as demand increases it gets harder to keep ahead with our stocks which is why we need to arrange regular supermarket collections like these.

Carl says, “If you are able to help by donating some food in store this will be appreciated and you will definitely be helping us to support local people and families who are in need. Every donation makes a difference and through our partnership with Tesco we will also receive an extra 20% top-up on everything donated. You do not need to be a Tesco shopper to donate at the collection point.”

You can also help by volunteering some time to man the collection point, if this is your kind of thing then please get in touch with Carl Roach via info@middletoncentral.foodbank.org.uk.

The foodbank is also looking for people to become local ‘foodraisers’, people who organise food collections amongst their friends, family or work colleagues.

The Middleton central foodbank is open on Mondays and Thursdays between 11.00am-1.00pm at the Lighthouse Project and it can be accessed through local referral organisations who issue food vouchers after assessing people’s circumstances and needs.

 

Location of food donation points:                

• Tesco Extra, Middleton, 8.00am - 6.30pm, front of store behind checkouts
• Lighthouse Project, S6b/c Second Floor, Middleton Shopping Centre, Limetrees Road, Middleton, M24 4EL, 10.00am - 4.00pm, in reception
• Alkrington Library, when open, in foodbank collection box
• Royal Bank of Scotland, Market Place, when open, in foodbank collection box
• Alkrington & Providence URC, when open, at back of church
• All Saints & Martyrs C of E Church, when open, in collection basket
• Long Street Methodist Church, when open, in collection basket
• Mills Hill Baptist Church, when open, in collection basket
• St. Michael’s C of E Church, when open, in collection basket
• Upper Room Christian Fellowship, when open, in collection basket

Please contact the foodbank if you have any questions about donating food, or if you would like to host a collection point:

• info@middletoncentral.foodbank.org.uk
• 0161 643 1163

Urgently Needed Food Items:

• Uht Milk (1 Litre)
• Sugar
• Fruit Juice/Cordial
• Tinned Tomatoes
• Tinned Potatoes / Packet Mash
• Rice, Pasta or Noodles
• Pasta Sauce / Curry Sauce
• Soup
• Tinned Vegetables (Any)
• Tinned Meat or Fish
• Tinned Fruit
• Rice Pudding / Sponge Pudding or Custard
• Custard
• Breakfast Cereal
• Jam or Spread
• Biscuits & Snacks